Courtney Hoffos’ journey from new ACL club back to the Olympic Games

Courtney Hoffos is part of a club, one that many of her fellow ski cross racers are also members of – but none strived to be in.

During final preparations for the 2023-24 FIS World Cup season, Hoffos suffered a knee injury. She ended up missing  the entire season.

The 28-year-old returned for the 2024-25 season with a new ACL – and what a return it was. Hoffos finished on the podium five times on the FIS Ski Cross World Cup circuit and won silver at the FIS World Championships. 

“I’d never really been in that, the new ACL club,” Hoffos explained. “I’m new to that one. A lot of my teammates have been through it, and I’ve seen the struggles, and I know that it takes a lot of time to get back into it and get back into that actual race pace. So to find myself on the podium relatively early in the season or, you know, midway through the season, I was just ecstatic at that and then for that to tumble into the most podiums I’ve ever had in a season along with a world champs medal. Yeah, pretty amazing.”

Even with the strong results, the season didn’t come without its challenges given that it had been over a year since her last competition.

Hoffos explained that while the skiing returned naturally, it was a challenge to get back into the tactical side that comes with ski cross.

“I was catching up to people and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what do I do?’ I had been out of that space for a while and I definitely felt rusty. 

“There’s certain things that you always have. But it was the tactics for me that I needed to get back to. And the traffic. Skiing beside someone, being comfortable with the competition right beside you and those nerves. You don’t deal with the pressure and the nerves for over a year; it was like 18 months since I had actually competed. You don’t practice that. It’s hard to simulate that.”

Pressure and adversity have not seemed to bother the skier from Windermere, British Columbia much during her career.

Hoffos, who has been skiing since she could walk, joined the World Cup circuit full-time for the 2019-20 season and stepped on the podium three times before her season was cut short after injuring her wrist and shoulder. Despite the early end, Hoffos was named the FIS Freestyle Rookie of the Year.

The following season, Hoffos never finished outside of the top 10 in any of her 10 World Cup starts. She also finished fifth in her debut at the FIS World Championships in 2021, making her the top Canadian woman at that event. But her season ended a week early when she sustained knee and ankle injuries that required surgery.

Hoffos made her Olympic debut at Beijing 2022, advancing to the small final in which she finished second to place sixth overall.

Now she has her focus set on the 2025-26 season – which includes the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games. While Team Canada’s ski cross team has not been named yet, Hoffos achieved the criteria for priority nomination during the 2024-25 season. She now just needs to meet minimum performance criteria during the upcoming season to secure one of the four Olympic spots for women’s ski cross.  

Hoffos said having met that early Olympic qualification criteria alleviates some pressure heading into events this season.

“That definitely makes me feel a little bit at ease. I don’t think I’m going to let it affect my performance regardless. I’m still gonna fight for every result. I’ll be more happy for my teammates also when they do well, knowing that it’s not hurting my chances. We’re always kind of like that because you do whatever you can do on a race day.”

While growing up in British Columbia, Hoffos said Olympians like alpine skiers Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Christina Lustenberger and curler Christine Keshen would come visit her and fellow athletes on the ski hill. Hoffos even later babysat Keshen’s kids.

For Hoffos, it’s that extra bit of community and Canadian support that make the Olympic Games such a unique experience.

“When I’m on the world stage, you see it, but people aren’t watching our World Cups nearly as much – maybe our family and a couple friends because they’re usually airing at 4 a.m. But the Olympics, you know, you’re getting a wide range of people, and it really makes it feel like you’re competing for everybody, and you’re seriously representing not just the flag but the communities in your elementary school and your high school. It makes you really feel like you have a platform to be a role model.”

After a strong 2024-25 season that saw a lot of success and good health, Hoffos hopes to keep things moving in that direction.

“Going into a season healthy makes a massive difference. And I have not had that luxury a lot of the time. Just going from having one of my best seasons and then not getting injured and staying strong throughout the season, hopefully I can just keep it moving forward.”